-- Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> ______________________________________________________________ ICBMTO: N48 04'14.8'' E11 36'41.2'' http://www.leitl.org 57F9CFD3: ED90 0433 EB74 E4A9 537F CFF5 86E7 629B 57F9 CFD3 ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Sun, 06 Jan 2002 13:46:30 -0500 From: David Farber <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: IP: Judge OKs FBI Keyboard Sniffing [ In keeping with protocol, I was an expert witness (pro-bono) for the defense and submitted several affidavits on the technical issues djf] > http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,49455,00.html > >Judge OKs FBI Keyboard Sniffing >By Declan McCullagh >2:00 a.m. Jan. 4, 2002 PST WASHINGTON -- The Justice >Department can legally use a controversial electronic surveillance >technique in its prosecution of an alleged mobster. > >In the first case of its kind, a federal judge in Newark, New Jersey has >ruled that evidence surreptitiously gathered by the FBI about Nicodemo S. >Scarfo's reputed loan shark operation can be presented in a trial later >this year. > >U.S. District Judge Nicholas Politan said last week that it was perfectly >acceptable for FBI agents armed with a court order to sneak into Scarfo's >office, plant a keystroke sniffer in his PC and monitor its output. > >Scarfo had been using Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) encryption software to >encode confidential business data -- and frustrate the government's >attempts to monitor him. > > [snip] > >The court order from the federal magistrate judge stated that the FBI >could "install and leave behind software, firmware, and/or hardware >equipment, which will monitor the inputted data entered on Nicodemo S. >Scarfo's computer in the target location so that the FBI can capture the >password necessary to decrypt computer files by recording the key related >information as they are entered." > >Defense attorneys had said that the PGP pass-phrase snatching was akin to >a telephone wiretap and pointed out that the FBI never obtained a wiretap >order. Scarfo's lawyers also claimed the FBI was conducting a general >search of the sort loathed by the colonists at the time of the American >Revolution and thereafter outlawed by the Fourth Amendment's prohibition >of "unreasonable" searches. For archives see: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/